Bar del Monte

Love this place!!! Menu appears to change often if not daily. Nice little herb garden in back. The pizza was absolutely delicious, uniquely thin, and full of flavor. The porcini salad was wonderful. Nothing we ate fell short of our highest expectations. Two other unique things we appreciated: 1. No reservations. We went early and waited a small bit but 100% worth it. 2. No tipping. Prices already accounted for how they paid their staff a living wage. Will definitely be visiting again.

The food is fantastic! Absolutely love all the anchovy dishes. The service was pretty good. I felt a little rushed. It’s loud. It was a bit distracting to hear every word of a conversation two tables away. I like that they include the tip in the price of the food. Makes everything so easy and seamless. Overall, highly recommend. The food is that good.

Phenomenal spot — full marks! The food was incredible, coming from someone who lived in Italy for years. The menu changes daily and is a great combination of classic dishes with innovative twists. The pizzas are delicious, with the perfect pull to the crust. Service was exemplary, and I loved — LOVED — that this restaurant has eliminated tipping in favor of paying their staff a living wage. It might be a long wait for a table during peak hours, but they’ll take your name and shoot you a text when your table is ready, and there’s plenty of spots in the area to grab a drink while you wait. I’ll be returning to this restaurant many times.

This unique restaurant is quite exceptional. Recommended by a local person, we were thrilled to discover it and enjoyed a beautiful Dinner there one evening. Thank you to the great servers, it is clear that everybody working here takes a real pride in what they do. We had hardly left when we decided to return for a second evening of our few days in Washington DC

Food was phenomenal. I love that this spot does all inclusive pricing as well! We ate almost everything on the menu, but the lamb skewers and the ricotta ravioli are not to be missed. Recommend showing up early, as seats go fast! Can’t wait to get back to this gem in Mt. P.

A really fantastic meal. The service is outstanding—the drinks (while the not a full bar) were lovely and the food is wonderful. We had the pizza and skewer special, as well as a salad & after dinner cheese. Everything was really delightful and just the right amount. This is just the kind of place that makes you so happy to eat out—perfect portions, atmosphere, and service.

The best!! The food is always so fresh and different. The hostess is also always so nice and such a great experience always

Everything was delicious and the ambiance was great. We had to line up at 4:45 to find a seat at 5pm. I think they change some of the dishes on their menu often, so you can visit more than once. Prices on the Menu already include the tip, which is awesome

Wow, what a special place! I came to Bar del Monte on a whim with a girlfriend after a day of shopping, and it did not disappoint. Bar del Monte doesn't take reservations, so we were thrilled to walk in and be seated immediately on a Sunday night around 7:30 pm. We started with two glasses of their "fancy wine of the day," which was absolutely divine--so much so that we ended up ordering a bottle. Both of us had been wanting to try this spot for a while, so we were eager to sample multiple dishes. While some Yelp reviews mentioned the food was tasty but costly, we couldn't disagree more. Bar del Monte pays its staff a living wage and operates as a no-tip restaurant, which naturally reflects in their prices. We found their prices to be comparable to most restaurants in DC. The food was fresh, flavorful, and simple yet elevated. The pizza, in particular, was out of this world--hands down the best crust I've ever had, both in DC and beyond. The ambiance was well curated and quaint. The staff was warm and attentive, and the entire experience felt thoughtful and special. I will absolutely be coming back.

Preposterously overpriced. 7 dollars for a Peroni sounds great until you realize it's a 4-ounce pour. Want to add arugula on your pizza? That will be 5 extra dollars. No, this is not a joke -- these are real prices. The pizza was very good and the ambience was lovely, but it simply wasn't worth the price.

Only come for the pizza. Small plates are criminally overpriced: I paid $40 for cold chickpeas in chili oil and some fried vegetable puffs (you could get this for less than $10 at the grocery store, but I guess this is my fault for ordering). Pizza really is excellent however! I plan on returning just for that. Just don't order anything else off the menu, not worth your dollar.

Stopped in pretty early on a weekend to try out del monte - wait was about an hour for 2. Bar is first come first serve. Small tables inside (back patio coming), maybe 5 or so seats at the bar itself, rotating menu. We tried a good amount of the menu - everything tasted fresh and was good, portions are on the smaller side, dishes are pretty simple. Enjoyed the small plates/salads more than we did the pizza, which was a razor thin crust with the majority of the flavor being dominated by the char on the edges. favorite dishes were the crudo, salad and asparagus. Overall a great place if you live in the neighborhood, but more a once in a while place for me given the wait time and that while everything was good, there were few standouts. The gratuity inclusive prices are nice but we still ended up around $180 for two leaving hungry (and without alcohol)

I have mixed feelings about Bar Del Monte. I like what they are trying to do and I like the service-included model, but I don't think they are operating at the top of their game or that they are worth the trip. Their website menu leaves a lot to be desired. Unlike the IRL menu, it doesn't include any dish descriptions and it doesn't include any prices. For a restaurant that prides itself on service-included pricing, not being price transparent on the website is a let down. Both the website and IRL menus don't do a good job of indicating which dishes are appetizers vs entrees. It turns out that the only entrees are pizzas, which was not what I expected. I thought some of the dishes that turned out to just be apps would be entrees, or some of the specials (unlisted online) would also be entrees. Nope. I thought they would have some pasta dishes or something, or the grilled fish of the day would be an entree (mentioned online but absent IRL). I visited on a Sunday at 5 PM right when they opened with a party of four. The restaurant is very small, with only roughly 4 four-tops, 7 two-tops, and 5 seats at the bar. It looks like they maybe have some room to expand in the front and back. We were the 5th group of four, so were initially turned away, until they combined two of the two-tops for us. So, if you arrive with a group, get there early or be prepared to wait. In contrast, two-tops were easy to get. I did notice a few two-tops squeeze in a third person. Service was adequate. It was not particularly helpful or friendly. It took a long time for food to come out. We had a selection of share plates: fritto (fried veggies, $19), arrosticini (five lamb skewers, $17), artichoke salad ($21), lamb liver pate ($21), clam pizza (12", 6 slices, $27). Quality was good but portions were small. I don't recommend ordering like we did; better to get one pizza per person and then supplement with small plates or dessert if desired. When we split these all four ways, I didn't really get enough of any dish to appreciate it. The fritto had a very nice, light, crunchy tempura fry. Lamb skewers were also tasty. Pate was pate. Salad was pretty bland. Clam pizza was fine but not clammy enough. Pate was served with three pieces of bread even though we were a four-top, so we asked for more (free). We also had some wine ($10-$15), beer ($7), and negronis ($14). The beer is only 240ml (~8 oz) which is less than a can (12oz) and a proper pint (16oz). This feels a big disingenuous. IMO 12oz is the minimum amount any restaurant should be serving for beer, with a pint the actual proper serving size. Some of us were still hungry but no one wanted to order more at Bar Del Monte. We had heard great things about the restaurant but were unanimously unimpressed. I'm also disappointed that prices didn't include tax. If you include service, you might as well include tax. I found the menu prices a little high but I kept reminding myself that prices included service. I did some math afterwards and I think the prices are reasonable for what we got.

Wonderful little spot tucked away in Adams Morgan! Bar del Monte occupies what used to be an auto shop, and vestiges remain - in the exposed brick, the angular interior, and the expansive front window, which lets in volumes of natural light. This lovely atmosphere set the stage well for the excellent food. We shared several dishes, starting with the anchovies. They were huge (for anchovies, that is), packed with salty bursts of flavor, and accompanied by crusty bread and a delightfully light water buffalo butter. Next up was the chickpeas. These were really good! The chickpeas absorbed the flavor of their broth, which contained tomatoes, saffron, and chili, very well. The last of our small plates was the chaos creator, more commonly known as the fritto. This consisted of delicately battered and fried vegetables. I think chaos creator (brought up in a different context at dinner) is an apt name because it's very tasty and very likely to cause chaos as people scramble to secure another morsel. Finally, we shared a delicious Margherita pizza topped with buffalo mozzarella, plus a sweet treat for dessert (the hazelnut gelato, super creamy!). Bonus points to them for having a wonderful waitstaff and for including the tip and all other fees in the menu price! It was so refreshing to just sign the bill at the end and be done.

I am Italian. From Italy. The food here is very authentic. I live this place, the location and the service. You can appreciate it only if you have a good experience of Italian traveling and food authenticity. Bravissimi!

Tasty appetizers and average pizza. Sufficient beverage options and good wine list. Dessert was the size of a coin. Pizza was predominantly crust, and all three pizzas on the menu were vegetarian and toppings were only available a la carte. Unlikely to return given other nearby options.

Fantastic wine list and great pizza. Attentive service. Very good overall experience.

I think the overriding feeling I had leaving Bar Del Monte was disappointment. I think most aspects of the food, service, and ambiance were quite underwhelming, which is especially surprising given how 'buzzy' it's been. I'm starting to wonder if that buzz is a bit manufactured: like the chef is the son of 2Amys, they got a lot of press for having 'service-included' pricing when people are especially mad about I-82 fees, they get a good review from Sietsema, and then it's off to the races, regardless of the actual experience of most patrons? Starting with the food - it was...fine(?). Like the quality is definitely decent, but it wasn't particularly special. The small plates are quite small and fairly expensive (even accounting for the pricing). Honestly, the portion size more resembled a fancy tasting menu, where each plate is just a bite of food. The Arrosticini is a few tiny skewers, another lamb dish we ordered (I think around $25) contained 2 medallions that were the size of maybe a coke can lid. The pizza is the only sizable entree, but I think you can easily find better pizza in the area (Timber, 2Amys, etc.) Related, the way the menu is outlined feels a touch snobby. They don't do a good job of separating out different types of dishes and the descriptions aren't particularly helpful. Part of that is on us, maybe we don't have a particularly sophisticated understanding of deep cut Italian dishes, so there was a lot of Googling. But I also think it's good practice to have the servers walk folks through the menu and give some helpful suggestions, which they did not do. We were honestly surprised at the presentation of each dish that we ordered, to the point where I kept thinking we were getting another table's food, which is usually not a good sign. The ambiance is, again, fine. It has a spartan modernist interior, the tables are pretty close together and the acoustics are a bit loud. At the end of our meal, we left and went to Marx Cafe down the street because we were still hungry!

An incredible meal, start to finish. Super fresh ingredients, simple but delicious preparation, great service. I dread how popular this place is about to become.

Great ambiance, pizza, and smaller dishes. Came here with family based on a recommendation from our soon to be sommelier. The ingredients were fresh and incredible.